Second up is Marie aka kayane. A great female competitor that recently won first place in the Woman’s Invitational Tournament at Evolution 2k10 (EVO2k.com) competition in Las Vegas. I didn’t get a chance to meet her in person like I did with burnyourbra, however my brother did when he was at EVO, which was one of the reason that I wanted to do this feature. There are far to many great female gamers out there that go unrecognized.
Check out the interview after the jump…
Bifu: Age?
Kayane: 19
Bifu: Hometown?
Kayane: Argenteuil, near Paris
Bifu: Where do you live now? pets?
Kayane: Still in Argenteuil in my parents house. Don’t have any pets because my dad hates that, he’s too careful about his garden! I love pets, but I’m allergic to cats…
Bifu: What do you do for money? (aka job – the one that pays the bills)
Kayane: My mother and me own a fabrics and made to measure clothes shop in Paris. But i’m still studying in same time.
Bifu: Favorite thing to do when you aren’t working?
Kayane: Playing fighting games, playing to the piano, watching movies and series, shopping ang going out with my friends.
Bifu: Who’s your hero?
Kayane: I don’t have any.
Bifu: Favorite color?
Kayane: Purple
Bifu: What inspires you, other than video games?
Kayane: Music and Cinema
Bifu: What’s your favorite show on TV? (if Heroes was your answer: What would your power be?)
Kayane: Desperate Housewives, I love Susan and Gaby ! (and Mike though ! :p)
Bifu: Favorite console game?
Kayane: XBOX360
Bifu: Favorite handheld game?
Kayane: Don’t have any
Bifu: Favorite movie?
Kayane: There are so much that I watched and loved. Every movie with Natalie Portman I love ! But if I had to choose only one, I would say Avatar.
Bifu: Favorite artist?
Kayane: I have many artists in mind but the first I liked a lot is Nobuo Uematsu.
Bifu: Where do you see yourself in 5 yrs?
Kayane: Don’t know yet, life is full of surprises. But I hope i’ll be able to travel more in all over the world thanks to fighting games tournaments. I wanna live in US during one year but I hope it will be before 5 years though !
Bifu: One talent you would love to have that you don’t have now?
Kayane: Playing music to the piano by ear.
Bifu: How or What got you into gaming?
Kayane: My brothers played Tekken so I began to play just like them on fighting games at 7 years old and 9 years old in tournaments.
Bifu: Your first game you ever played?
Kayane: Must be Tetris or something like that when I was 4.
Bifu: Your favorite game?
Kayane: Soul Calibur
Bifu: Playing with guys online – does it frustrate you when they make comments about your sex? and how females can’t game?
Kayane: Usually people are nice with me in live, they asked if I’m the real Kayane in general and don’t comment about my sex. They congratulate me for EVO and say they wanna play against me.
But if they make any comments about my sex, i just have to beat them anyway so that they’ll shut up, or if they insult me, it will make me smile thinking “I just humiliated another frustrated macho, funny”
Bifu: Any words of wisdom to new gamers?
Kayane: Watching videos of strong players, always thinking of what they do good and wrong and how to get stronger each time they play. And they never have to think that it’s just their opponent that is just too strong anyway, it’s a weak way to think that cant make you stronger.
Bifu: How does it feel to be a top gamer in your genre?
Kayane: I’m not a top SSFIV player at all yet, and I don’t want people to considerate I am because it’s not true. I just began this game and didn’t do anything impressive to be considered like that. When I’ll be able to achieve top 10 in a big mixed tournaments at SSFIV just as I could do for SC, it will be the only right reason people can say I am a top player. But before that, I still have a lot of trainings to do.
You can use the term for Soul Calibur because I achieved many things at this game in 10 years tournament at it. To be one of the top gamers at SC just made me feel like I have to find ways to get stronger to be the best, because there are dangerous top players around that are still training to be stronger too and that have the same goal. Actually I still have the same feeling than at SSFIV whereas I’m beginning this game, each time I play I want to improve to achieve the highest level. So for me, being a top player or a new player in a game, it doesn’t change. I always want to be stronger to be able to win tournaments.
Bifu: Being in a clan? Do you recommend it or not?
Kayane: I recommend it yes, it can be a great experience to be around people sharing the same passion and to improve with. So that you can feel you play not only for you but for a clan that is cheering you, so it can make you stronger in mind.
Bifu: How did you come up with your handle?
Kayane: I was a Dead or Alive player too when I was 9 years old. At my first tournament they asked me for a nickname and I didn’t think about it,I just thought to mix the first names of my two favourite characters at it: Kasumi and Ayane. (Ayane is my favourite though)
Bifu: Aspirations for your future?
Kayane: I wanna be able to travel more and meet a lot of people and cultures thanks to my passion for fighting games and my hard training to be able to fight against the best players of each country I’ll go. Also, I want my shop to have a great success and i work for it.
Bifu: Current playlist of games? Or games that are in heavy rotation?
Kayane: Right now I only play SSFIV since I stopped Soul Calibur in March waiting for the 5th. I only participate to tournaments at SC now though, without training at all. Just not to forget I’m a SC player at first and that I still really enjoy to be able to play Xianghua at each occasion i have since she made me love this game.
If you wanna follow kayane, she’s on the following social networks: